Hans Nelson

Hans Nelson

The Wilds of East Texas

Recently my sojourning and music took me to East Texas for a bit. This is one of those misunderstood areas of the country for me. Like most people, I have always assumed that Texas is a featureless, flat expanse of land filled with Texans who love cattle, trucks, and wish they were their own country. While the latter is true, for the most part :) The former is not true, at least of East Texas and the piney woods.

I flew down not knowing what to expect. And, once I got to Tyler, TX, was incredibly surprised. Rolling hills, trees, sunsets, and beautiful land were everywhere. This was definitely a side of Texas that I was not familiar with. So, I took this photo on my first run through the countryside. The open sky and simple beauty of the place was astounding, and definitely unexpected.

As a few more days past, I was always surprised by the views and color in the surrounding countryside. The wonderful steaks and local winery were not bad either :) There is something pretty awesome about going on a run like that, and then ending a day of music-making with a nice Texas Port for Kiepersol Winery and a steak.

Again, the great land of this country surprises me. Travel enough and you think you've seen it all, when you really haven't. I hope to keep traveling and seeing new places like this for the rest of my career, and look forward to being constantly surprised by scenes like this!